Theft investigation focuses on former HACC vice president

Harrisburg Area Community College has issued a statement in response to news reports that former college vice president Nancy M. Rockey is the focus of an investigation into possible misuse of funds.

"The College has cooperated fully with the district attorney's office in the investigation and will defer further comment pending conclusion of the district attorney's investigation," HACC President John J. "Ski" Sygielski said, referencing a report. "Please note that Ms. Rockey is no longer employed with the College. Her employment was terminated in February 2012."

No charges have been filed, but Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said earlier this month that the investigation likely will conclude around the end of the year. The investigation is not focused on anyone else, he said, and the circumstances under investigation span “the last couple of years.”

He declined comment on the amount of money involved until the investigation is complete.

Rockey was HACC's vice president of college and community development, and the 2010-11 annual report of the HACC Foundation lists Rockey as secretary of the foundation's board of directors. She does not appear in the foundation's 2011-12 annual report.

According to the college, Rockey was employed at the college for 31 years in a variety of faculty and administrative positions, including interim vice president of HACC's Harrisburg Campus and dean of workforce and economic development.

A 2010 tax filing from the foundation lists her college compensation and benefits that year as $186,187.

HACC's website describes the foundation as a nonprofit educational trust established in 1985 to raise private and corporate revenues in support of HACC.

"Thanks to visionary founders and the largesse of many, the HACC Foundation is among the wealthiest of any community college foundation in the nation," the site says, noting an endowment consisting "of more than 200 individual restricted funds totaling over $25 million."

Tax filings and yearly reports from the foundation indicate total assets of $25.9 million in 2009 and nearly $32.1 million in 2010, with funds going to support the college and for scholarships.

A message left at Rockey's home this morning seeking comment was not immediately returned.